After yesterday’s marathon chase, today is a much more relaxed affair and meet time is 10:00. There’s a messy looking set up way south which is not compelling and too far to drive to anyway. In any event the issue with the temperamental aircon needs addressing and it’s booked in locally. As it happens the problem is some sort of sticky valve issue that is not fixable in the timeframe we need. The Lincoln Highway Diner is today’s destination for breakfast; Alex has a giant omelette called the Boss which Adam Richman would struggle to finish. Alex can’t manage it all either.
Alex has his first experience of Walmart and thankfully the self-service
checkout is happy to give change from a $100 bill that came with the currency I
ordered in the UK. After some debate today’s tourist destination is the Great
Platte River Road Archway Monument that straddles the I80 interstate at
Kearney, Nebraska. I’d been under it a few times so was interested as to what
it was. Anyway, we paid our $32.10 for two tickets and were met by an elderly
cowboy who gave us an introduction. The monument houses an historical
experience of the pioneers who transited the area in covered wagons, trains and
latterly by road. As you walk through the exhibits you press your hand held
terminal to the appropriate button which then gives you a 2 minute commentary
on each section. It was pretty interesting to be fair. As we left there were
about 20 adults and children dressed as Amish milling around in the gift shop.
Assuming they were part of the show I went to take some pictures before it
started to dawn on me that they were actually real Amish. Oops.
After a Walmart picnic we set of south towards tonight’s Super
8 hotel in Goodland, Kansas a “hedge your bets” location for tomorrow’s slight
risk.
A bizarre and slightly disconcerting moment greets us in
Arapahoe, Nebraska where we stop for gas. It’s next to the Trump shop so not
unreasonably I walk over to take a quick snap narrowly avoiding a guy in a
truck emblazoned with “Fuck Joe Biden” and “Fuck Justin Trudeau”. As I walk
back to the Yukon a guy is circling the vehicle checking our licence plate to
see where we’re from and making a point in doing so. I’m not sure the Arizona
plate is a good or bad thing but the apprehension of a Top Gear Alabama moment
only lifts when we are a couple of miles down the road.
We arrive at Norton and we’re in Kansas, then head south
west through Clayton towards the I70 and on to Colby for a steak at the City
Limits Grill. While I’m ordering a pint of vanilla porter (very nice BTW) one
of us who isn’t me announces that he cannot find his wallet which contains the balance
of our cash. After much fruitless searching of the Yukon, the waitress appears holding
the aforementioned wallet– some public spirited resident of Colby had found it in
the car park and handed it. The person who isn’t me tracked down the guy and
went over to personally thank him. We had a jolly good laugh about it. *
Alex and I both ordered the 12 oz rib eye steak, medium rare
with home cut fries which were absolutely delicious. I of course mostly had
salad including the biggest piece of raw broccoli you have ever seen. *
We then departed Colby and arrived at our hotel in Goodland
at 20:30 or 19:30 depending on whose phone you looked at. We were now in
Mountain Time (BST – 7) not Central Time. Some phones had figured this out and
some hadn’t. The time change was apparently 18 miles to our east. We’ll need to
rely on the room clock to make the 7:00 departure in the morning.
A very pleasant way to spend a non-chasing day.
*…these statements may not be entirely accurate
Total miles: 318
No comments:
Post a Comment